1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic music composing apparatus and method, and a machine readable medium containing program instructions for realizing such an apparatus and a method using a computer system, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method capable of composing a music piece having a desired length of time as designated by the user, in which the number of measures for a music piece to be composed are calculated from the designated length of time, the tempo and the meter, and then the data base including composition parameters for defining characteristics of music compositions are searched for retrieving the composition parameters which meet the calculated number of measures to automatically generate a melody based on the retrieved composition parameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Apparatuses for composing a piece of music or a melody (tune) based on the composition parameters defining characteristics of a music composition read out from a data bass are known in the art (see unexamined Japanese patent publication No. H9-50278, whose counterpart is issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,663). Such an apparatus handles data sets of composition parameters, each composition parameter data set including a data set representing a music structure in terms of a sentence pattern such as &lt;A-B-C-C'&gt; and a data set representing musical features such as a melody feature and a rhythm feature.
Among the prior art, there is also a type of automatic music composing apparatus which is capable of generating a melody having a length of time as designated by the user, for example, as shown in unexamined Japanese patent publication No. H9-81141. But, such an apparatus stores in the data base a plurality of note value data strings for several different lengths of time, selects a note value data string which matches the designated length of time, and imparts pitches to the respective note values in the selected data string to construct a melody. It does not disclose an idea of utilizing a technique of storing composition parameter data sets depending on the number of measures, i.e. for each of a plurality of numbers of measures. Nor does it have a plurality of composition parameter data sets for each length of time among various lengths of time so that the user can select a desired music structure and/or other characteristics for an intended length.
With the apparatus of the above-mentioned conventional type, various melodies with various rhythms cannot be generated for a designated length of time, and further the length of time of the generated melody cannot be adjusted precisely to meet the designated length of time, still keeping the naturalness in musical feeling at a proper tempo.